Street Fighter IV Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Dan is not as bad as you might think. Despite having a pitifully nerfed fireball and mockingly goofy animations, a decent player can actually be pretty effective with Dan. His biggest difficulty is in closing the gap with opponents that can quite easily keep Dan at bay, either with runaway tactics or with suppressive fireball bombardments. To be effective with Dan, you need to get in close and force a close range battle.

To get close, use ample Focus Attacks canceled into forward dashes. This will have the side benefit of also boosting your ultra meter, which is good because Dan's ultra is actually pretty good. You can also make up some ground by performing his HK Dankukyaku ( + HK ) in the air, though beware that there is considerable recovery time when Dan lands. Even his LK Dankukyaku in the air can be very effective once you get closer to the opponent. Its priority is very good, and you can use it after the peak of your jump to drop a knee on the opponent below. It beats a lot of counter attacks, knocks the opponent down, and lets you mount your offense.

As Dan, use MK a lot. His c.MK attack is great for canceling into Gadoken fireballs ( + P ) for general pokage, or into his EX Dankukyaku for a swift, disheartening combo. Perhaps even better is Dan's s.MK, which has great range and speed. It'll out-range any of his other attacks and lets you put pressure on an opponent from just outside his normal effective range.

Dan's Focus Attack is quite good, too, and since you'll be using it to get through fireballs you should also get used to using it as an attack. The constant canceling of Focus Attack into dashes should make the opponent more likely to slip up and run into a fully executed, stage two Focus Attack. Once you've crumpled the opponent, you can follow with a combo of your choice.

As previously mentioned, Dan's ultra combo is quite good. It'll pass through fireballs on start up (among other attacks) making it a great wake-up move to counter an opponent's meaty attack. It's even good as anti-air. And unlike any other character in the game, Dan is able to cancel into his ultra combo, though the means of doing so are pretty particular. More on that later...

Combos

j.MK ( cross-up ) c.MK xx + KK

We count this as Dan's most useful combo. While in close, we do a lot of poking with c.MK, and if it connects you can cancel into his EX Dankukyaku ( + KK ) for a quick combo. Add a cross-up j.MK to the beginning of that and you've got yourself a very usable combo. If the first hits of the combo are blocked, cancel the c.MK with a Gadoken instead of the EX Dankukyaku—it'll leave you safe and won't waste your meter, unlike the EX Dankukyaku which leaves you very vulnerable and eats meter for nothing when blocked.

j.HK s.HP xx + HP xx FADC xx + HK

You can start this combo as a jump-in or ignore the j.HK and use it as a way to punish opponents that whiff with attacks that leave them open. Cancel the Koryuken ( + P ) with an FADC and dash forward, at which point you can catch the opponent in the air with two hits of his HK Dankukyaku. The damage on this combo is surprisingly good if you can land all hits and it's definitely worth the half of a super meter that it costs to pull off.

MP + MK xx c.HP xx + HP xx + HP + HK xx + PPP

This combo is more for show than anything, as it costs a full super meter and a hyper meter. But it's still pretty neat, and if you need the damage to cap off a round, it's not a bad choice. Here we start the combo with a level two Focus Attack, though a jump-in will work as well. What happens after the c.HP is a bit of magic—can cancel his Gadoken ( + P ) into his Legendary Taunt ( + HP + HK ), a super combo that does no damage. But while the Legendary Taunt is charging you can start buffering the input for Dan's ultra combo which will—magically—cancel the Legendary Taunt and combo. There's nothing more epic.

Moves List

Gadoken

+ P

SPECIAL

As a fireball, this is pretty terrible. It travels just halfway across the screen before petering out and it's really not much good in a fireball war. Your timing has to be a lot better than the opponent's in order to even neutralize a fireball war, and it's impossible to win one. Still, the Gadoken is an excellent tool for poking. Poke at opponents with c.MK and cancel into Gadoken for a safe way to end your poke string. The EX version of the Gadoken will even let you—at least in a corner—combo a level two Focus Attack.

Koryuken

+ P

SPECIAL

The LP version of the Koryuken doesn't have much horizontal range, but it's still got good priority and quick recovery. Better yet is the MP version, which extends the horizontal range (good for anti-air) but doesn't leave Dan hanging too long.

Dankukyaku

+ K

SPECIAL

Any version of the Dankukyaku can combo off of a HP (standing or crouching), but the EX kicks can combo off of much more, including a c.MK. Be careful with the Dankukyaku as it'll leave you open when blocked. The LK version in the air has great priority and speed, it being capable of winning a lot of air clashes. And you can use the HK version in the air to increase hang time, letting you cross the screen quickly or stay in the air long enough to evade a fireball as it passes under you—just jump backward before executing the Dankukyaku and Dan's momentum will continue backward.

Hissho Buraiken

+ P

SUPER COMBO

Not the best super. In fact, it's probably among the worst. The range of the Hissho Buraiken is very short, and even if you connect with the first few hits there's a possibility of pushing the opponent outside the range of the later hits. If you whiff the end of the attack, Dan is left way open. Really, you're better off using the meter for EX attacks and FADCs. Or, if you wanna be flashy...

Legendary Taunt

+ HP + HK

SUPER COMBO

...there's always the Legendary Taunt. This isn't a brilliant super combo, but it does have a unique property. Unlike any other attack in the game, the Legendary Taunt can be canceled into an ultra combo. And since you can cancel into the Legendary Taunt, that means that you can use the Legendary Taunt in the middle of a combo as a gateway to the ultra. For an example, check the third combo listed above. Another use: You can execute the Legendary Taunt as bait. When the opponent goes to capitalize on your idiocy, you can cancel into Dan's ultra to catch the opponent off guard.

Shisso Buraiken

+ PPP

ULTRA COMBO

Thankfully, Dan's ultra combo makes up for his weak supers. The ultra has invincibility on start up so you can pass through projectiles and jump-ins. It's a great wake-up attack to counter meaty attempts, and it even does solid damage.